UFC 207: Payout Perspective

January 3, 2017

Welcome to another edition of Payout Perspective. This time we take a look at UFC 207 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Rousey finished in 48 seconds

It was the long-awaited return of Ronda Rousey. She looked in top shape but the question was whether she could return to her form pre-UFC 193. The former bantamweight champion that brought women’s MMA to prominence could not. Amanda Nunes broke Rousey’s spirit within seconds of the fight starting.

Rousey’s lone takedown attempt was stuffed and she actually started turning away from punches as if she’s never fought before. It was pretty sad to watch a former champ go down this easy. She was out on her feet and didn’t even realize the fight was over.

For Nunes, it was easy work. As she did at UFC 200, she broke a fighter’s spirit and likely retired another top opponent. Nunes also showed some great promo skills post-fight as she told the media to forget about Rousey.

It will be interesting to see who will be next for Nunes.

I don’t think we can say poor Ronda Rousey. Even though her MMA career should be over, her payday ($3 million) ties her for the highest-ever with Conor McGregor. Rousey is more psychologically damaged than physical and if she doesn’t have her heart in fighting, she shouldn’t do it.

While one championship fight had little promotion, the Dominick Cruz-Cody Garbrandt title match-up had great lead-up. The two verbally sparred throughout the promotion of the fight and Garbrandt attempted to go after Cruz during media rounds. There was even a pull-apart at the ceremonial weigh-ins.

Garbrandt showed no fear and solved Cruz’s awkward, but successful style. It could be that Garbrandt was just quicker or Cruz lost a step but it made it a unanimous decision for the challenger.

This exchange will likely be gif’d to death. In all honesty, I’ve watched it about 50 times.

In a touching moment, Garbrandt put the belt around a kid he befriended that battled back from leukemia. The kid, who walked hand in hand with Garbrandt to the ring, chanbed his life according to the new champ. In the same post-fight interview, he called T.J. Dillashaw a m****f*****. So, he’s still rough around the edges.

Garbrandt could grant Cruz a rematch or go after T.J. Dillashaw.

Attendance and Gate

Ticket demand was still high for Rousey as UFC 207 drew the largest attendance for an MMA event in the state of Nevada with 18,533. T-Mobile Arena sold standing room only seats for the event which likely helped the attendance figure. The gate was $4.75 million.

While the secondary market was not as robust as prior Rousey events, this was the first one in sometime in Vegas.

The fighters taking home the belts earned bonuses: Amanda Nunes and Cody Garbrandt. Garbrandt and Cruz won the Fight of the Night. Nunes and Alex Garcia earned a Performance bonus as well. All received $50,000 checks.

Yahoo Beauty found a way to mention Ronda Rousey by doing a story on why women MMA fighters braid their hair.

Johny Hendricks looked better against Neil Magny, but missed weight again. The issue seems to be in his head as he challenged media to cut weight.

Cain Velasquez was taken off the UFC 207 card and his fight with Fabricio Werdum after discussing his injuries in an interview. The NAC took Cain off the card without his knowledge according to the former heavyweight champion. He responded via a lengthy Facebook post.

Embedded was a good time for Dominick Cruz to show-off his branded t-shirts.

A big faux pas occurred when cable and satellite distributors advertised that UFC 207 was happening Saturday. As we know, it was Friday. Based on the Friday night ratings, people knew the correct time.

Nunes had the “Island of Dr. Moreau” look with the lion head at the ceremonial weigh-ins.

If you noticed a man in a wheelchair at the weigh-in, he had cashed in his UFC Reward Points for the opportunity to be on stage at the weigh-ins. A pretty nice payoff considering he saw an almost fight right in front of him and Rousey-Nunes.

The bad news about Rousey’s fame was that she was covered in most of the mainstream news outlets including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Sports Illustrated and ESPN.

“Ronda Rousey Fight” drew over 5 million google searches on Friday which should indicate a huge PPV gate. But, a portion of those probably were searching for the fight after learning the news that Rousey was KO’d in less than a minute. Interesting enough, there were no copyright warnings as there were for UFC 193.

Conclusion

All the indicators (google searches, ratings, etc.) reflect a huge PPV buy rate. While we may want to discount some of those google searches, there were still a healthy amount of people that knew the fight was going to be Friday and that Ronda Rousey was returning to the Octagon. For those that though there was “lack of buzz,” they underestimate the Rousey demo and are stuck in their old ways of thinking of what “MMA fans” want to see. It would not be surprising to see this PPV hit 1 million buys.

I agree, Ronda should retire. The way she reacted to punches was a bad sign. shades of Brock Lesner. She has lots of money and will likely continue to rake it in for a little while longer from endorsements and the occasional movie.

dave lebold on
January 4th, 2017 12:34 AM

What do think about Twinzz.com being a sponsor in the cage? It appears they are a clothing company like Reebok.
Maybe that can be discussed on the next SHOW MONEY?

turd on
January 4th, 2017 6:01 AM

from what ive read, rhondas movie career is pretty much done, the roadhouse remake is on the shelves because she cannot act, plust getting whooped pretty bad her last two fights, she has no appeal anymore shes done.

she had one of the disgusting attitudes of any fighter i have seen in many years.

Fight Fan on
January 4th, 2017 11:58 AM

Well said turd, sore loser and an even bigger sore winner

edi on
January 4th, 2017 9:38 PM

Rhonda the train wreck, Rhonda the ex-champ, Rhonda the Was —-still has tickets and product to SELL. WME will spin and profit. && WE will watch it again & again. Like rubber necking at an accident on the freeway……….How many mma news stories have been on Amanda post 207? It is STILL the Rhonda Show. More stories and podcast material about Edmond the Terrible than Amanda. Sad but real.

Diego on
January 5th, 2017 7:17 AM

“the roadhouse remake is on the shelves because she cannot act”

Also it doesn’t star Patrick Swayze so yeah, not watching that. Also, after her last two fights Rhonda can’t deliver the line “pain don’t hurt” with a straight face.

Just so no one thinks I’m sexist (God forbid), I didn’t watch the Point Break remake either.

Diego on
January 5th, 2017 7:19 AM

We can only hope that her career is done. I never like her attitude, her hypocrisy or the media’s infatuation with her. I’m glad the UFC rode the gray train as far as it did, but now it’s derailed. Time to build the next star.